A majority of FCC commissioners voted this week to cap cable company …

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The FCC is considering a cap on cable ownership that could spell trouble for Comcast's growth plans. News of the plan comes hard on the heels of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's push to exert regulatory control over the cable industry, a plan that has so far faltered over concerns about the data used to justify the new FCC authority. The cable ownership cap has the necessary votes, though, and it looks like Martin might bring the industry to heel after all.

According to multiple news sources, the FCC hopes to cap any single company's control of the cable market at 30 percent. No company has currently exceeded that limit, but Comcast is pressing up against it with 27 percent and would likely be the first company to feel the effects of a new rule.

The two Democrats on the Commission, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, have reportedly agreed to go along with the plan and have cast their votes along with Martin. The other two commissioners have yet to vote. Neither the votes nor the proposal have been made public.

Commissioners are still capable of working across party lines to pursue projects that they agree with, but they are just as capable of sniping publicly with one another when unhappy. Just this week, Commissioner Adelstein objected to an FCC vote (PDF) that grants some waivers on media ownership sought by the Tribune Co. "Today's order is a regulatory hostage taking," he wrote, "a desperate maneuver to use the Tribune transaction as a human shield, while the Commission marches down the treacherous path toward greater media consolidation. Notwithstanding Congressional rebuke and widespread public opposition, this Commission is determined to use any conceivable ploy to achieve its misguided goals." That same day, however, came reports that he had voted for the cable cap with Martin, a strong advocate of looser media ownership rules.

Comcast has already expressed unhappiness with the move to cap subscriber rates, and the cable industry looks likely to sue over any such rules. A similar proposal was tossed by a federal judge a few years back, but the FCC has conducted additional research in the interim that may allow it to present a stronger case for the rules.